Physical Inventory for Coca Cola

Coca Cola Enterprises, one of the largest, best known companies in the world, came to us to help
them manage their vending machine inventory process.

As you can imagine, Coke has a vast number of vending machines, both new and in various
states of reconditioning, which are housed at various remanufacturing facilities throughout the
U.S. Prior to joining forces with Bar Code Software, the inventories on this machinery were
performed manually – a time-consuming, labor-intensive task, to say the least.

Information on each of their vending machines, i.e., location, state of condition, etc., was already
housed in Coke’s mainframe computer system. By working with this existing information, Bar
Code Software was able to design an inventory system that worked with their mainframe
database, without causing any changes to it. We called the new system “Track It.”

Track it consists of specialized software that pulls the information from Coke’s mainframe
database and transfers it to handheld terminals with built-in laser scanners (Intermec’s Antares
T2420).

This is how the Track It system works for Coca Cola:

Printed bar code labels are generated and placed on every machine, old and new. The bar code
indicates the machine’s special asset number, as assigned by Coke.

When it is time to perform a physical inventory, Track It pulls information on existing inventory
from Coke’s mainframe using “queries” and “ODBC” drivers. This process generates a record
on each piece of machinery with all pertinent information.

Next, this information is transferred from the PC in its entirety to each handheld scanning
terminal using Track It’s specialized software. Multiple terminals

Coca Cola Inventory Management:

Coca Cola has lots number of vending machines, both new and reconditioning machine, that are
placed at various remanufacturing facilities on the U.S. They decided to use the Bar Code
Software, the inventories on this machinery were performed manually - a time-consuming, labor-
intensive task, to say the least. Information on each vending machine, example location, state of
condition, etc., was already placed in Coke's mainframe computer system. By working with this
existing information, Bar Code Software was able to design an inventory system that worked
with their mainframe database, without causing any changes to it. We called the new system
"Track It [3] ." Track it is specialized software that pulls the information from Coke's mainframe
database and transfers it to handheld terminals with built-in laser scanners.

This will describe how the Track It [4] system works for Coca Cola:

Printed bar code labels are generated and placed on every machine, old and new. The bar code
indicates the machine's special unique number, as assigned by Coca Cola.

When it was used for a physical inventory, Track It pulls information on existing inventory from
Coca Cola's mainframe. This process generates a record on each piece of machinery with all
suitable information.

After that, this information is transferred from the PC in its entirety to each handheld scanning
terminal using Track its specialized software. Multiple terminals are used to scan the bar codes
at the same time on each machine throughout Coca Cola's manufacturing facilities. When each
vending machine bar code is scanned, that number will be compared to each number on the list
that was downloaded from Track It. A report listing would found or not found would be
displayed on the handheld terminal's display. And the new information is transferred from all of
the terminals back to Track It, and the database on the PC is automatically updated.

The new system has decreased physical inventory time because it will be automatic control. It
also saves money and manpower.
Page 11: Just-in-time
Canners and bottlers process vast quantities of materials each week. Receiving the raw materials
and delivering the finished products involves a complex sequence of actions.

The ideal solution is to make sure that the inputs for the process arrive 'just-in-time' so they can
be transformed into a finished product ready for transportation 'just-in-time' to meet the needs of
the retailers. At modern canning plants, the can maker is often located in an adjoining facility,
with delivery through a 'hole in the wall' operation.

The packagers are involved in sophisticated supply chain networks with the supermarket chains
and other outlets to ensure that this process runs smoothly. Canners and bottlers must ensure that
they do not build up large stockpiles of cans waiting to be sold but they must also make sure that
deliveries are not late. This is where they benefit from advanced information technology that
rapidly relays figures about the demand for Coca-Cola. For example, this demand usually rises in
periods of hotter weather so the packagers need to plan increased production.

Canners and bottlers work closely with The Coca-Cola Company and other suppliers to provide a
smooth running supply chain so that consumers are always within 'an arm's reach of desire' and
can always buy a drink when they want one.

Use a new system, Track it. Track it is specialized software that pulls the information from
Coke's mainframe database and transfers it to handheld terminals with built-in laser scanners. •
When each vending machine bar code is scanned, that number will be compared to each number
Track It and the data base is automatically updated.
Coca-Cola Pakistan is one of those organizations that cannot Compromise on the essence of their
item. They do have a proper inventory system in the facility but they make sure when the bottle
is produced it is being dispatched to the respective retail outlets or to the distributors. 2 years
back Inventory management was different as they were buying Raw material in bulk but they are
now shifting their production to Just in Time. Just in time, production makes inventory cost less
and demands significantly less space for inventory storage. They had reduced the number of
warehouses. The work is coordinated in such a manner that operations are not affected. Coca
cola only keeps reserve inventory of 2-3 day. Moreover, if they feel like that their plant is unable
to meet to the demand of the product in market, they can call for the finished goods from plants
located in other cities and fulfil the demand, Like Lahore Plant is currently fulfilling the demand
of Faisalabad Territory Also. The Production in Faisalabad has stopped due to the construction
of new Plant

BANGKOK: Coca-Cola has adopted a creative approach to ensure the consistency and accuracy
of its brand tracking data across more than 90 markets, according to an executive at the
company.

"Data gets turned into information and that information gets turned into insights. So for Coca-
Cola, those insights really are important. When we decided to re-architect our brand tracker a
couple of years ago, we needed to ensure that the (data) quality is very important to us, and it's
non-negotiable," said Wichuda Pangote, Senior Knowledge and Insights Manager at Coca-Cola,
at the IIEX Asia-Pacific market research event in Bangkok.

Coca-Coca has an independent 'data consigliere' which is assigned to oversee the quality and
consistency of brand tracking data across all its relevant markets. (For more, read WARC’s
exclusive report: How Coca-Cola ensures high-quality brand tracking data.)

"With our consigliere in place, we can quantitatively address data quality issues before it
becomes a problem and ensure that our key brand can maintain that integrity… In our case, we
wanted an independent and objective custodian of the data who could work in partnership with
us and with all our agency partners to ensure that they get the data right," Pangote said.
According to Horst Feldhaeuser, Group Client Director of New Zealand-based consultancy
Infotools which works alongside Coca-Cola, a ‘pre-warning’ system has allowed the company to
address potential data inconsistencies or outliers before they arise.

"All of the data collection being digitized - that's either CATI, or online, or tablets - we can
actually add all the passively collected data to our data that we share with the agencies and with
the markets. We know exactly who did the interview, how long the interview took, etc…. And
taking into account how many brands they mentioned and all the other KPIs that we already had
in the survey, we could create that 'pre-warning' system," Feldhaeuser said.

"If something is going off from the numbers that we would expect, we'd put our orange light on.
If it's significantly off, we may immediately put a red light on. If we have two or three orange
lights in a row, boom, a red light goes on. This way, we really want to stop it from happening too
late and be able to interfere much earlier."